Dog-Eared and Premiered: June 2025
Four books, one film, and one streaming show I loved this month.
You’ll notice a theme on three of the book covers featured below—I didn’t clock the shared neon pink, yellow, and black design elements until I put them all together here. That’s genre trends for ya! The outlier is a classic in all the best ways—I’m especially excited to feature it because it’s written by a dear friend. Read on for more…
BOOKS
Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje
I could not be more proud of my insanely talented developmental editor and friend Lidija Hilje—this is her debut novel, and it is a stunning achievement. Plus, English is Lidija’s second language, which makes her eloquent and evocative writing all the more incredible. This exquisite ache of a novel follows a woman who meets and marries the love of her life at nineteen, and then is forced to leave him. Her agonizing decision ricochets through the years, reverberating back to her in the forms of her ex, his new wife, and an unexpected lover. The four must contend with their “square”—a walled fortress of things unsaid but deeply felt, the scaling of which is both a clear-eyed portrait of the battle between duty and desire and a meditation on rebuilding a life amid crumbling systems and circumstances. Lidija’s writing is suffused with a sense of longing so palpable, it stirs one’s own memories of loss and love and infuses them with her protagonist’s. Croatia is also a character, its brilliant rendering imparting a sense of nostalgia for an unknown place. Lidija’s prose is so steeped in her country’s language, history, and culture, her vivid descriptions paint such impressionistic strokes of a salt-scented, sun-drenched far-off world, that reading it feels like looking back on one’s own travels through rose-tinted lenses. But the story also delves into the long shadows cast by all that blazing light, never shying from the less romantic aspects of both homeland and self, creating a powerful amalgam of yearning and truth. Like the most foundation-shaking love affair or life-affirming trip, this book is a radiant and profoundly moving experience. Releases July 8.
Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell
This is a delightfully fun, dark take on the breezy seasonal read. Protagonist Lexi is exactly as the title states—a matchmaker who specializes in finding love for people who test within the psychopathy scale. She also has some pretty decrepit skeletons in her closet: namely, that her parents were horrifically bad people (no spoilers) who achieved notoriety for their crimes. Lexi’s neglectful, traumatic childhood still haunts her, despite the new identity she’s hidden behind. On paper, everything seems perfect: she has a successful fiancé and she’s flourishing at work. But it all comes crumbling down when her relationship takes a deceitful turn just as several new clients enter her life, and mysterious body parts begin showing up at her door. This feels like a lighter, more thriller/horror-leaning stepsister to my favorite April read Rainbow Black. Releases July 15.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
This is basically an RPG in book form—think The Running Man meets The Hunger Games, only hilarious, profanity-filled, and with a talking cat sidekick named Princess Donut. After a hostile Earth takeover by corporatized galaxy overlords, antihero Carl is forced into a multi-level underground dungeon as part of an intergalactically televised battle to the death. Consider this your alt summer read; it’s not just massively fun, it’s also stealthily affecting. Originally self-published by Dinniman, Penguin Random House acquired print rights to the series (which includes seven books so far) and released them with updated covers, starting with this first volume, on August 27, 2024.
Bunny by Mona Awad
I came to cool girl literary horror writer Mona Awad a bit backwards—instead of starting with this, her viral 2019 release, my first foray into her work was 2023’s Rouge, which I found fun, voicey, and genre-appropriately bonkers. But with Bunny’s follow-up We Love You, Bunny hitting shelves this September, I figured it was finally time to dive in. And boy, I was not disappointed. The story gleefully, violently scratches the Heathers, Mean Girls, and Jennifer’s Body itch. Set within (and absolutely skewering) an ultra-competitive MFA program, it follows an outsider scholarship student invited to join a cliquey group of rich classmates who are neck deep in some seriously monstrous experimentation. Hilarious, weird, and completely insane hijinks ensue, so: 10/10. Released in paperback June 9, 2020.
Sidebar shout-outs: Sharing several promising novels that didn’t quite hook me, but may fare better with you. They are: Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen (released June 3), Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove (released June 10), Tusk Love by Thea Guanzon (releases July 1), and The Irresistible Urge To Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley (releases July 8).
FILM
I adored Celine Song’s debut Past Lives (it was a favorite film of 2023), and her new follow-up has solidified her status as an auto-watch director for me. If I were only going to see this movie for the cast, it’d be because of Dakota Johnson, who I find immensely charming both on and off-screen. I’ve never gotten the Chris Evans hype, and though I tip my hat to Pedro Pascal’s rizz, he’s someone else’s Daddy, as far as I’m concerned. But I digress! This film is nearly nothing like the rom-com the marketing machine made it out to be—it’s deeply cynical and more character than plot-driven, focusing its (stunningly shot!) scenes on conversational chemistry and frank, incisive dialogue. I have some reservations about how the story wrapped up, but overall I remain impressed with Song’s surgical dismantling of love and dating through the eyes of a disaffected matchmaker. Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Song worked as a matchmaker in NYC; she leaves all her opinions about that role on the table, here, and it is a most satisfying feast. Released in theaters June 13.
STREAMING
I’m a huge proponent of the death awareness movement, and I have deep respect and admiration for death workers, so the subject of this true story immediately piqued my interest…for all the wrong reasons. This is one of those shocking documentaries that just. keeps. getting. worse. It details the horrific crimes committed by David Sconce and his family while operating LA’s Lamb Funeral Home in the early 1980s. When I say you’ll experience the full spectrum of emotions over the course of just three 50-minute episodes, boy do I mean it. Sconce gleefully takes part in the interview process, and the documentary’s final (morally conflicting, ethically grey) moments explain why it’s oft compared to 2015’s The Jinx. Released June 1.
That’s all for June—is there something you’re looking forward to that releases in July? Let me know, I’m always adding to my read and watch lists!